Question Period Note: EMPLOYMENT EQUITY PROGRAM – GENERAL

What is the government doing to ensure fair, inclusive and equitable workplaces?

The Government of Canada believes that Canada’s strength lies in its diversity. Creating equitable, diverse and inclusive workplaces will help grow our middle class and build a country where every Canadian has a real and fair chance to succeed.

One of the ways the Government promotes equity and diversity is through the Employment Equity Act. The Act seeks to correct the conditions of disadvantage in employment experienced by women, Indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities and members of visible minorities in federally regulated workplaces.

By removing employment barriers and correcting underrepresentation, employers help ensure that all Canadian have equal access to employment opportunities so they can reach their full potential and contribute meaningfully to Canada’s economic growth.

General

The purpose of the Employment Equity Act (the Act) is to achieve equality in the workplace so that no one is denied employment opportunities or benefits for reasons unrelated to ability and to correct conditions of disadvantage experienced by 4 designated groups: women, Indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities and members of visible minorities.

Employer requirements under the Act

All employers subject to the Act have 4 core obligations:

survey their workforce to collect data on the representation of designated group members in each occupational group in their workforce;

identify any underrepresentation of the designated groups in each occupational group in their workforce;

review their employment systems, including written and unwritten policies and practices, in order to identify employment barriers; and

prepare and implement a plan to remove employment barriers and achieve equitable representation.

Employers covered under the Act

The Act applies to:

federally regulated private-sector employers with 100 or more employees, including federal Crown corporations (e.g. Canada Post) and other federal organizations (e.g. port authorities), covered under the Legislated Employment Equity Program (LEEP);

all core public administration organizations identified in Schedules I or IV of the Financial Administration Act (federal government departments and agencies);

separate agencies in the federal public sector listed in Schedule V of the Financial Administration Act with 100 or more employees (e.g. Canada Revenue Agency); and

the Canadian Forces and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Division of responsibilities under the Act

Under the Act:

the Minister of Labour and Seniors is responsible for the Act and the programs and initiatives described below;

Treasury Board and the Public Service Commission carry out employer obligations for the core federal public administration and the President of the Treasury Board tables the public sector annual reports to Parliament;

the Canadian Human Rights Commission is responsible for conducting compliance audits of all employers (i.e. from both the private and the public sector); and

an Employment Equity Review Tribunal can be established to hear cases where the Canadian Human Rights Commission has found non-compliance.

Employment equity programs and initiatives carried out by the Labour Program

The Minister of Labour and Seniors is responsible for the following employment equity programs and initiatives that are delivered by the Labour Program of Employment and Social Development Canada.

Legislated Employment Equity Program

Each year, the federally regulated private-sector employers, including federal Crown corporations and other federal organizations, are required to file an employment equity report with the Minister of Labour and Seniors by June 1. This report contains 6 forms that include representation and salary data on the 4 designated groups and all employees by occupational group, salary range, employment status, geography, industrial sector, and the number of employees hired, promoted and terminated. It also contains a narrative report describing the measures that have been taken, consultations held with employees’ representatives, and results achieved in implementing employment equity.

The Labour Program receives and validates the employer reports, then consolidates and analyzes the information to produce the Minister’s “Employment Equity Act: Annual Report” that must be tabled in Parliament.

The Labour Program also provides guidance and tools to the LEEP employers relating to the implementation of employment equity in the workplace.

According to the “Employment Equity Act: Annual Report 2022”, for 2021, the LEEP covered 551 employers with a total of 742,506 employees, representing approximately 3.6% of the Canadian workforce.

Pay gap reporting under LEEP

In Budget 2018, the Government of Canada committed to implementing pay gap reporting for LEEP employers to reduce pay gaps affecting the 4 designated groups.

Amendments to the Act and the Employment Equity Regulations that require LEEP employers to include pay gaps in their annual employment equity reports came into force on January 1, 2021. LEEP employers reported pay gap information for the first time in 2022.

The Labour Program is developing an online data visualization tool. It will be launched by the end of 2023 and will provide user-friendly, easily comparable data on representation and pay gaps for each LEEP employer.

Publishing pay gaps will raise awareness about this issue for women, Indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities and members of visible minorities. It will lead employers to examine their practices and show leadership in reducing pay gaps. Canada will be the first country to make this level of information publicly available.

Federal Contractors Program

The Act assigns responsibility for the administration of the Federal Contractors Program (FCP) to the Minister of Labour and Seniors. The FCP ensures that employers who do business with the Government of Canada implement employment equity in their workplace. The FCP applies to provincially regulated employers with 100 or more employees receiving goods and services contracts of $1 million or more from the Government of Canada.

Once an employer receives an eligible contract from the Government of Canada, the contractor must fulfill the following requirements:

collect and maintain workforce information, including representation of the 4 designated groups;

conduct a workforce analysis and complete an achievement report;

establish short term and long term numerical goals to correct underrepresentation;

make efforts to ensure that reasonable progress is made towards having a workforce that is representative of the Canadian workforce, with respect to the members of the 4 designated groups; and

report the above information to the Labour Program.

The Labour Program conducts compliance assessments one year after the initial federal contract award date and every three years thereafter. If a contractor is found to be in non-compliance, they face contractual sanctions limiting their ability to conduct business with the federal government.

As of June 2023, the FCP applied to 415 employers covering over 600,000 employees.

Workplace Opportunities: Removing Barriers to Equity

Workplace Opportunities: Removing Barriers to Equity (WORBE) is a grants and contributions program designed to support private-sector employers subject to the Act in their efforts to improve the representation of designated group members in areas with low representation, through partnerships and industry-tailored strategies. The projects funded seek to raise awareness, identify barriers and best practices, or test innovative approaches in employment equity.

Previously, $500,000 per fiscal year was allocated in funding, and in 2021-22, the funding was increased to $2 million. Beginning in 2022-23, funding of $3 million per fiscal year is available to eligible recipients, including federally regulated private-sector employers, employer associations or councils, sector associations or councils, non-governmental organizations, not-for-profit organizations, and academic institutions. Each project can receive a maximum of $500,000 per fiscal year and $1.5 million in total contributions funding. Projects must conclude within 60 months.

Since its launch in 2014, WORBE has supported 27 projects, as follows:

2 grant projects completed in 2015

2 grant projects completed in 2016

1 contribution project completed in 2017

4 contribution projects completed in 2018

6 contribution projects completed in 2022

1 contribution project completed in 2023

1 project in progress that will conclude in 2024

3 projects in progress that will conclude in 2025, and

7 projects in progress that will conclude in 2026.

The agreements for the 11 projects in progress were signed in 2023, as a result of the Open Call for Concepts launched on January 18, 2022.

Employment Equity Achievement Awards

The Employment Equity Achievement Awards publicly recognize LEEP and FCP employers and individual business leaders from these organizations for their employment equity achievements and their commitment to creating diverse and inclusive Canadian workplaces. Awards are usually presented by the Minister at an official ceremony for 4 categories: Outstanding Commitment, Innovation, Sector Distinction, and Employment Equity Champion.

In 2021, due to the continued COVID-19 pandemic, there was no application process for the awards. Instead, the Minister hosted a virtual event in June 2021 to recognize employers and their ongoing efforts in implementing employment equity. A similar event took place in April 2022.

On October 17, 2022, the 2023 EEAA application process was launched and subsequently concluded on December 6, 2022. This is the first year for the newly created category of Indigenous Reconciliation Award for employers who have demonstrated outstanding commitment to reconciliation with Indigenous peoples. A Ministerial event is being planned to take place in November 2023 to celebrate recipients in all five categories.

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